GOREY ACTIVE RETIREMENT FUMING OVER LACK OF RESPONSES

CONCERNS RAISED OVER STATE OF FOOTPATHS IN GOREY

Members of the Gorey Active Retirement Association are at their wits end following lack of response from the local authority, to issues first raised by the group in 2017 about what they believe are dangerous conditions of local footpaths, and the potential hazards to the public, particularly older people.

Speaking to John Brophy, P.R.O. of the association explained that ‘older people, like our members, do not lift their feet in the same way, like when they were young, and any irregularity underfoot can cause them to fall and suffer injuries, which could be life changing at their age’.

He explained that he first alerted the council to the danger in February 2017, when he wrote a letter detailing the main problem areas in the town such Church Street, Main Street, the Avenue and St Michaels Road, asking for an inspection to be carried out.

John did this because he wanted to highlight the concerns of members of Gorey Active Retirement as well as other elderly people, who had noticed the dangers and some had even tripped and fallen themselves.

In February 2017, he explained that he was told following his letter that the funds were unavailable to make changes.

After silence for the rest of 2017 and into 2018, it was February 2019 when John decided to take the next step and contacted a senior engineer within the council by email.

In his email he detailed the key areas of concern and also highlighted the lack of response. Attached to this he included eight photographs of the key problem areas.

He followed this complaint up with phone calls and received no reply. After a month, he contacted Cllr Keith Doyle, Cathoirleach of Wexford County Council, with the same email outlining these details, and again received no reply.

John included photographs and detailed measurements of locations at Chill Restaurant, Shu 4U, Talk to Tom, Whelan Pharmacy, Gorey Pharmacy, Morri and Kell, the public toilet on the Avenue and outside the Palm building.

To this date, John has received no response, and he is frustrated with the treatment he has received.

‘This is an arrogant, rude, insulting and unprofessional way to treat the people to County Wexford,’ he said.

‘This experience has caused me to question the knowledge, competence and professionalism of the engineers in the council staff,’ he said but explained that the front staff of the council are always very helpful and make contact where necessary.

‘In this communication rich era, where everyone has a mobile phone, there is no excuse why contact is not made. Manners and respect should be shown to anybody who contacts the council on any matter’.

‘It doesn’t cost anything to pick up the phone, but it seems that no one wants to take responsibility,’ said John.

He said that the construction of many pavements within the centre of the town are dangerous, and the main issues are broken pavements and lack of warning about the conditions, such as the public toilet on the Avenue as well as pavements having too much slope.

‘It is our understanding that councils are responsible for ensuring that pavements are as level as possible,’ he said.

He said that the footpaths should be the baseline and should be level, and speaking about shop entrances, he said that ‘This unevenness can be very dangerous as the foot nearest the building can be an inch or more higher off the ground than the other foot, which can cause anyone to stumble, not just the elderly’.

‘We are requesting a full inspection and correction of pavement construction to prevent injury to our members and the general population of Gorey,’ he said.

‘I would suggest a walk around Gorey is essential to assess the extent of the problem,’ John added.

Speaking to Amanda Byrne, District Manager at Gorey Municipal District, who originally received John’s first letter in 2017, she said that a ‘substantial amount of work has been done on footpaths in the main central area of Gorey, with spending in the region of €200,000’.

She explained that John’s letter will be discussed at the next meeting of the members of Gorey Municipal District, which takes place today.

‘Obviously what happened here isn’t acceptable, he should have gotten a response at the time and I can’t say why what happened did happen, but what I would suggest to John is to set up a meeting here with us in the offices to raise the issues in further detail, and that should have happened before now’.

She added that community groups like Gorey Active Retirement Association are kept up to date with works that are ongoing regularly and that there is active communication.